CO:ntent Blog

Have you ever left for vacation and come back to dead or dying plants in your living room?

It happened to me last month, and I was frustrated with feeling like I would never have a green thumb despite my best efforts. Then I heard about Watering Raspberry Pi, a robot built and created by Dev Catalyst students from Lexington High School. The robot is designed to automatically water your plant via a soil moisture sensor, meaning you could go on vacation and not have to worry about your plants!

By sensing how much moisture is in the soil, the robot is able to detect when and how much water needs to be put in the plant. In addition to measuring the moisture levels, the robot also displays humidity and temperature on an LCD screen. Once the robot senses that the moisture level has gotten too low, it activates a water pump powered by a 12-volt battery to add more water to the soil.

Braden Bell is one of the students who worked on this project, and he says “The Watering Raspberry Pi project has taught me a lot about programming and patience. I have also learned how to find parts and manage budgets.”

Not only did the team of students have to build the robot, they also had to code it and figure out how to connect all the pieces together to make a fully functioning machine. This can be time consuming and challenges the students to learn how to work as a team.

Even though building a robot from scratch can be tough work, Bell says he still enjoys it. “After working on something for weeks at a time, the thing I like most is seeing it work. It means all of the hard work that the team and I put into it paid off.”

A parent of the Watering Raspberry Pi students expressed their appreciation for theCO in providing their student with the opportunity to learn more about robotics, saying “theCO has enabled him to have access to hardware and a space to work.”

By getting to practice building and coding with the Watering Raspberry Pi project, Braden has decided that he would like to delve further into the robotics world.

“I would love to have a career in programming robots. I think I will continue to make projects like this as a hobby in the meantime.”

Braden had always been interested in robotics and was able to utilize theCO’s resources to begin engaging in robotics and build his own project.

If you or your child are interested in robotics, you can join in on the community program CO:bots that meets at theCO Thursday’s at 5pm.